Students who qualify for the loan will have 85 percent of their loan forgiven if they work as a full-time educator at an accredited nursing program for at least four years.

Chase said this new loan program will help nursing students achieve their Ph.D. at a more affordable cost.

“For students, it makes UCF an even greater value. But for the nation, it helps create more faculty and bring in a new generation of thought leaders to educate the next generation of nurses,” she said in the release.

As UCF continues to be one of the nation’s “best value” colleges and universities, according to The Princeton Review, the Ph.D. program at UCF's College of Nursing provides flexible classes and real-world training.

“With access to world-class faculty and cutting-edge research areas, including simulation, our doctoral students graduate as leaders in the application of innovative technologies to educate nurses and contribute to solutions that will advance health care worldwide,” said Donna Felber Neff, Ph.D. program coordinator at the UCF College of Nursing and author of the grant, in the release.

The loan program will support up to five Ph.D. students including current and prospective graduate nursing students.

Students will have up to apply for the program by Jan. 15, 2016 and classes are set to begin in summer 2016.

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Shanae Hardy is a Digital Producer for the Central Florida Future. Email her at ShanaeH@CentralFloridaFuture.com